A street-cleaning machine

ABSTRACT

A street-cleaning machine which comprises accessories including rotating brooms, scrapers, receiving devices, garbage containers and a water tank. The accessories are mounted as a single unit on a trailer having at least one pair of axles. A tracter is operatively connected with the trailer and is separable therefrom.

[ Jan. 21, 1975 United States Patent [191 Heidt l /340X l/34OX /82FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 12/1956 12/1961 Breither.... H196311/1959 Great Britain........................ 15/340 8/1967 GreatBritain..,..................... 15/340 Foreign Application Priority DataPrimary Examiner-Edward L. Roberts Jan. 14, 1972 Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Ernest G. Montague; Karl F. Ross; Herbert DubnoGermany...........................1 2201602 we wd wa m e C .m m 7 5 m a0. a h u TCS m w m S.mm B h Aw n m m .m m n g mm cd im 66 mm 1&8 7 5 .m[Ar 78 4 M 8 513 l 9 :m 3 5 2/ km 0 4 3 u 5" 1m mmh c .r "3 e M I C 0smrw UIF 11] 2 8 555 1:11

vices, garbage containers and a water tank. The acces- References Citedseries are mounted as a single unit on a trailer having UNITED STATESPATENTS at least one pair of axles. A tracter is operatively con- 3/1898nected with the trailer and is separable therefrom. 2/1913 600 222Hasson 15/78 1.053.037 Hutchins............................. 15/87 X 1Claim, 2 Drawing Figures A STREET-CLEANING MACHINE The present inventionrelates to a street-cleaning machine, whose equipment comprises inparticular rotating brooms, and scrapers, garbage-collecting devices, agarbage container and a water tank.

The known cleaning machines of this type are constructed as self-poweredspecial vechicles and are satisfactory for cleaning the streets of somecities and villages.

However, street networks have increased considerably since theintroduction of the above described machines. This becomes particularlyapparent in view of the development of parkways outside the cities andthe construction of extensive by-pass roads at the edges of highlypopulated areas.

Because of new roads the demands on street-cleaning machines haveincreased tremendously and a number of difficulties have developed. Inthe main, these difficulties derive from the fact that the capacity ofthe garbage containers is too small for mobile operation along longstretches of streets in a single operational trip. Rather the work mustbe interrupted after a few kilometers or miles to seek the next garbagedisposal place for unloading. The resulting time requirement increaseswith the distance between the street section to be cleaned and the placeof unloading, whereby the costs for working time and fuels increasesaccordingly and it may be necessary to invest in a second cleaningmachine.

It must be added, that it is very uneconomical to invest in theprocurement of an expensive street-cleaning machine to be used merely asa transport vehicle with empty trips.

Similar problems come up also regarding the water supply, which, asknown, is necessary for street cleaning in dry weather and which in theexisting machines runs out after a relatively short duration duringoperation.

To overcome the above difficulties, attempts have been made to transferthe garbage in the field, that is to unload the garbage container on theway and to carry it to the dump by other vehicles. However, thistechnique requires special transfer facilities on the street and adds upto a waste of time for the cleaning machine to get off the street andunload. Thus additional costs are caused by the round trip of thetrucks. Furthermore, garbage-transfer facilities alongside the street isa source of undesireable increase of pollution.

Another attempt at a practical solution of these problems, in particularfor parkways, is a self-propelling garbage combination pick-up withwhich the garbage is transferred to waiting trucks by means of aconveyor belt. ln this case an additional tank truck is necessary forthe water required for spraying. This system has above all thedisadvantage of a large expense for individual vehicles and consequentlyfor personnel.

It would be obvious to solve this problem by constructing astreet-cleaning machine with substantially bigger capacity of itsgarbage and water containers. By this method, however, the costs,particularly for the driving part, that is for the motor, gears,steering, etc., would rise considerably, so that the economical value ofsuch a special vehicle becomes questionable. Also this vehicle would beoperational only intermittently and depending on weather conditions.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a street-cleaningmachine, capable of collecting garbage over long stretches of streetsand carrying with it the necessary water, so that only one or twopersons suffice for the operation of the machine and the number of thenon-working trips is substantially reduced compared with that of theexisting machines. These objects are attained in a street-cleaningmachine, according to this invention, in which all the operationalequipment comprising rotating brooms, scrapers, the garbagecollectingdevices, the garbage container and water tank, is separated from thedriving section of the machine. This operational equipment is placed asa unit on one or more axles, and this trailer it is rotatably coupled toa tractor, preferably a semitrailer truck, from which it can bedisconnected. ln this way it is possible to enlarge the operationalrange of the cleaning machine by a multiple compared with that of theexisting machines.

The garbage containers will have to be emptied only after alongstretches. Correspondingly a substantially lower number of unloadingstations will be necessary. The unloading stations can be placed on thestretch of the street to be cleaned at set distances in correspondencewith the capacity of the cleaning machine, so that trips back, or tripswith empty containers can be eliminated, or their number greatlylimited. The same applies to the refilling of the water tanks.

It is a further advantage of the street-cleaning machine in accordancewith the present invention, that the driving section of the machine canbe used for other purposes during rest periods of the cleaning section,whereby the higher investment for the larger cleaning machine iseconomically equalized.

It is to be added that the driving section of the machine in case of theuse of self-steering carriages, can be used in cities also for thecleaning of streets, in particular of through streets, whereby the greataction radius effects itself likewise advantageously, since the previousfrequent trips to the discharge place and back lead often through theentire city and thus cause a great cost expenditure on costs.

These and other objects will become more readily apparent from thefollowing detailed description, reference being made to the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of a large cleaning machine; and

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the machine disclosed in FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawing, the cleaning machine is pivotally andreleasably coupled with the front section thereof or a semitrailer truck(tractor) 2, and is provided in the rear with a two-axle running gear 3.

The trailer of the cleaning machine comprises a hous ing 4, in which arelocated the motor unit 5 for the driving of the suction blower 6, and acompressor unit for actuating the rotating disk-brooms 7, as well as forthe controls. The control cables are removably connected with thedrivers cab 9 by means of a coupling 8.

In the housing 4 is situated a water tank 10 and the garbage container1], inside of which terminate two pneumatic collectors 12. The suctionaction of the collectors I2 is generated by the exhaust fan. In front ofthe brooms 7 are placed scrapers 13. Both the scrapers and brooms can belifted from the road surface.

Since the other elements and parts of the cleaning machine areconventional, no further description thereof is required.

For the shown example, a driving unit with four axles is chosen, sincethis size appears best suitable for the provided purpose. Within theframework of the permissible length, also more or less than four axlescan be used. It is also conceivable to receive the garbage not bysuction but, rather mechanically, by example, by conveyor bands.

I claim: 1. A street-cleaning machine comprising: a self-propelledtractor; a trailer pivotally connected to and detachable from saidtractor for towing thereby, said trailer comprising: an elongatedvehicle body having at least one axle and wheels thereon adapted to bedrawn along a road surface by said tractor,

scraper means on said body proximal to said trailer and adapted toscrape contaminants from a road surface,

rotating disk brushes mounted on said body and engageable with said roadsurface behind said scraper,

suctionnozzle means behind said brushes on said body for drawingcontaminants, refuse and water into said body,

an exhaust blower in said body connection to said suction-nozzle means,

a prime mover connected to said blower means and said brushes fordriving same, said prime mover being mounted in said body,

a garbage container in said body for receiving refuse drawn up throughsaid suction-nozzle means, a water tank in said body supply water forwetting the road surface, and

operating means on said body for selectively raising and lowering saidscraper means and said brushes, and

control means operable from the said tractor and connected via areleasable coupling to said operating means for controlling thepositions of said brushes and said scraper means from said tractor.

1. A street-cleaning machine comprising: a self-propelled tractor; atrailer pivotally connected to and detachable from said tractor fortowing thereby, said trailer comprising: an elongated vehicle bodyhaving at least one axle and wheels thereon adapted to be drawn along aroad surface by said tractor, scraper means on said body proximal tosaid trailer and adapted to scrape contaminants from a road surface,rotating disk brushes mounted on said body and engageable with said roadsurface behind said scraper, suction- nozzle means behind said brusheson said body for drawing contaminants, refuse and water into said body,an exhaust blower in said body connection to said suctionnozzle means, aprime mover connected to said blower means and said brushes for drivingsame, said prime mover being mounted in said body, a garbage containerin said body for receiving refuse drawn up through said suction-nozzlemeans, a water tank in said body supply water for wetting the roadsurface, and operating means on said body for selectively raising andlowering said scraper means and said brushes, and control means operablefrom the said tractor and connected via a releasable coupling to saidoperating means for controlling the positions of said brushes and saidscraper means from said tractor.